Christian Faith and Greek Philosophy in Late Antiquity: Essays in Tribute to Christopher George Stead in Celebration of His Eightieth Birthday 9th April 1993

279 Pages·1993·20.19 MB·English

by  Lionel R Wickham

CHRISTIAN FAITH AND GREEK PHILOSOPHY
IN LATE ANTIQUITY
SUPPLEMENTS TO
VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE
Formerly Philosophia Patrum
TEXTS AND STUDIES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE
AND LANGUAGE
EDITORS
]. DEN BOEFT - R. VAN DEN BROEK - A. F.J. KLIJN
G. QUISPEL -j.C.M. VAN WINDEN
VOLUME XIX

Professor Christopher Stead
CHRISTIAN FAITH
AND GREEK PHILOSOPHY
IN LATE ANTIQUITY
Essqys in Tribute to
GEORGE CHRISTOPHER STEAD
Ely Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge (I97I-Ig8o)
In Celebration qf his Eightieth Birthday
9thApril1993
EDITED BY
LIONEL R. WICKHAM CAROLINE P. BAMMEL
AND
ERICA C.D. HUNTER
ASSISTED BY
E.J. BRILL
LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN
1993
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
93-19426
CIP
ISSN 0920-623X
ISBN 90 04 09605 1
© Copyright 1993 by E.]. Brill, Leiden, 1he Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENTS
Preface.............................................................................................. VII
Abbreviations of Major Series and Primary Editions....................... IX
Pauline Exegesis, Manichaeism and Philosophy in the early
Augustine.................................................................................. 1
C.P.BAMMEL
Christian and Roman Universalism in the Fourth Century............... 26
HENRY CHADWICK
Eine Pseudo-Athanasianische Osterpredigt (CPG II 2247) Ober die
W ahrheit Gottes und Ihre Erftillung . . . . . . ... ......... .... ... . .. . . . . ... ...... 43
HUBERTUSR.DROBNER
Augustine's Paradoxes...................................................................... 52
GILLIAN R. EVANS
Basilius von Caesarea und das HOMOOUSIOS ............................... 70
REINHARD M. HUBNER
'Trample upon me ... ' The Sophists Asterius and Hecebolius
-Turncoats in the fourth century A.D..................................... 92
WOLFRAM KINZIG
Ambrose and Philosophy .................................................................. 112
ANDREW LENOX-CONYNGHAM
Die Sprache der Religiosen Erfahrung bei Pseudo-Dionysius
Areopagita ................................................................................ 129
EKKEHARD MUHLENBERG
VI CONTENTS
Literal or Metaphorical? Some Issues of Language in the Arian
Controversy .............................................................................. 148
CATHERINE OSBORNE
Die Absicht des Corpus Areopagiticum .. ....... ........ .. . ... .. .. . . ..... ...... ... . 171
A. M.RITTER
Deus, Pater et Dominus bei Augustinus von Hippo.......................... 190
B. STUDER
The Ignorance of Christ: A Problem for the Ancient Theology........ 213
LIONEL WICKHAM
M!\crina's Deathbed Revisited: Gregory of Nyssa on Mind and
Passion . . ...... ...... ... .... .. . . . . . .. ............. ........ .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... .. . . ..... 227
ROWA N WILLIAMS
The Publications of Christopher Stead.............................................. 247
GRAHAM GOULD
Index of Biblical References .............................................................. 256
Index of Modern Authors and Editors ............................................... 261
PREFACE
Friends and pupils of Christopher Stead join together here to offer a tri
bute to him on his 80th birthday. Born 9th April1913 he came to King's
College, Cambridge in 1931 and read first Classics and then Philosophy
(called in those days at Cambridge 'Moral Science'). After a spell as fel
low of King's College he was ordained, and in 1949 became Chaplain at
Keble College, Oxford. In 1971 he was made Ely Professor of Divinity
(the last to hold that office) and in conjunction with it was a residentiary
canon of Ely Cathedral till his retirement 13 years ago. He has contin
ued with some occasional university teaching and remains a tireless
joint-president of the Senior Patristic Seminar, at which he has bene
fitted numerous speakers by his kindly but penetrating criticisms and
delighted participants by his scholarly precision and ever youthful sense
of humour (most memorably perhaps on the occasion of the delivery of
the paper "The Arian Controversy: A new Perspective").
Over the years he has come to occupy a special place in the esteem
and affections of those who have laboured in the portion of the Lord's
vineyard marked out as the study of the fathers of the Church. The range
and depth of his personal contribution are amply attested by the list of
publications which have illuminated many and various aspects of the
discipline. It is a contribution which continues to be fruitful, not only in
his own hands but by the stimulus to thought, and encouragement to
persevere, he has given to others. For all this we are grateful, and in
wishing him many happy returns of the day we add our hope that he will
not lay down his pen but give us still more reason for gratitude in the
years to come.
A collection of essays cannot do justice to all the facets of the ancient
Church which he has concerned himself with. The heading under which
we have brought these together signals the area he has made specially his
own: the relation, sometimes of hostility, sometimes of symbiosis, be
tween the life of faith as it was lived in the ancient Church and the wis
dom of the philosophers. His own training has guided him to that area.
For one who attended the classes of Moore and Wittgenstein in Cam
bridge in the 30's and 40's of the century, could not but be made acutely
aware of the problems involved and see the overriding importance of
clarity and truthfulness both in their statement and in their proposed
VIII PREFACE
resolution. His own discussions have always been critical examinations
in which the worth of the arguments, no less than their pedigree, has
been exposed for consideration. It has been his own special gift to ren
der intelligible the technical elaborations of insights which have their
rationale elsewhere than in the technique itself and to capture truths in
danger of loss from the inexpertise of their expression. The approach
has never been iconoclastic, nor has it ever been obseqious. Those who
read his papers on Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa will find sharp
things said about the quality of the saints' arguments. They will not go
away feeling that the saints were not worth reading: rather, that the
issues themselves have been made clearer. We hope that these essays
we here present may have something of this same approach or we are no
true friends of the beloved colleague to whom we dedicate them. Our
best wishes to you Christopher on your birthday.
Acknowledgements
The editors publicly record their debt not only to the contributors but
especially to Dr. Erica C.D. Hunter for her invaluable assistance in pre
paring this volume for the press. The efforts of Mrs J. O'Dell and Miss
Anna Maria Marino of the Office at the Faculty of Divinity are also not
to be forgotten. We thank too the managers of the Bethune-Baker Fund
for a subvention towards the cost of the publication.
Lionel R Wickham
Caroline P H Bammel